With Privacy Week now underway it’s timely to put a spotlight on privacy in a broadcasting context.
Privacy is one of eight standards overseen by the BSA to help achieve our vision of freedom in broadcasting without harm.
The privacy standard applies to identifiable individuals featured in a broadcast, or directly affected by it.
The standard aims to respect, where reasonable, people’s wishes not to have themselves or their affairs broadcast to the public.
It seeks to protect their dignity, autonomy, mental wellbeing and reputation, and their ability to develop relationships, opinions and creativity away from the glare of publicity.
However, the privacy standard also allows broadcasters to gather, record and broadcast material where this is in the public interest.
Other key considerations include whether a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy, whether private information was disclosed, and whether the disclosure or intrusion was highly offensive.
It’s not a breach of privacy where the person concerned has given informed consent to the disclosure or intrusion.
More information on the privacy standard and how it applies to TV and radio broadcasts can be seen in the
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Unlike complaints under other standards in the Codebook, privacy complaints can be made directly to the BSA, without needing to go to the broadcaster first.
Expectations of privacy vary with time, culture and technology, which creates some difficult boundaries. For this reason, our guidance is not exhaustive and may need elaboration or refinement when applied to a complaint.
The Authority may also consider privacy law developments in New Zealand and overseas in applying this standard.
Recent high-profile privacy rulings include a 2022 BSA decision regarding broadcasts by RNZ about a child under the care of Oranga Tamariki, which included material stolen from the former Waikato District Health Board and released by hackers on the dark web.
This, and a selection of other decisions upholding privacy complaints in recent years, can be seen on our website
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